The AR6K has a GPL host driver available today. The firmware that runs on the AR6K is quite closed, but that's the case with most any of these radios. No binary modules would need to be run in the kernel. A company called Card Access Inc. sells dev boards and kits and provides commercial support for the AR6K. Modules with the AR6K are available from Card Access Inc.

+

The AR6K has a GPL host driver available today. The firmware that runs on the AR6K is quite closed, but that's the case with most, if not any of these radios. No binary modules would need to be run in the kernel. A company called Card Access Inc. sells dev boards and kits and provides commercial support for the AR6K. Modules with the AR6K are available from Card Access Inc.

Public call for WiFi

We can't find a WiFi Chipset with GPL'ed drivers -- We know
this has been discussed (to death) on this list, but as we're
beginning work on the next summer hardware refresh we still can't seem
to find a vendor that meets our strict requirements: Namely, we refuse
to put anything binary in the kernel.
Marvell has some nice for larger devices (the 8388). But we need
one specifically for mobile phones (like the 8686). If somebody
can help us find the right vendor, we'll give you a free Neo1973.
If you're a vendor and want to work with us to GPL your driver, we'll
give you lots of business -- and a free phone ;-)

Regular chipsets are NOT suitable

Please notice that it is impossible for us to use any of the standard desktop WiFi chipsets, commonly found in miniPCI cards or USB WiFi adapters.

We really need a chipset (and even beyond that: Somebody manufacturing SMT modules with that chipset) that is specifically targetted for mobile phones or other mobile devices such as portable media players.

Regular WiFi chipsets just draw way too much power and are too large by an order of magnitude.

List of available WiFi modules for mobile phone usage

SyChip Products

WLAN6100EB — IEEE 802.11g/b Chip Scale Module

WLAN6061EB — IEEE 802.11b Embedded Module

According to some unofficial sources they use the Prism 3 chipset. SyChip states they support Linux.

NOTE: The Palm LifeDrive uses the SyChip 6061 chipset. several people have extracted the firmware that is being loaded from the driver into the 6061 chip. all indications are that the 6061 is actually using the firmware for the Marvell Libertas 88w8305 chipset. additionally, looking at some firmware for the 6100 series, seems to conclude that it is using the firmware for the Marvell Libertas 88w8385 chipset.

ACX 100 has reverse-engineered GPL drivers, and has done for several years. it is a wifi 802.11 chipset from TI that has been used for several years in the HTC smartphone products, including the HTC-designed iPAQs (HTC designs all of Compaq/HP's iPAQs)

I assume that you are happy to have binary-only firmware uploaded to turn chips into actual useful products.

Key Stream Corporation

ZyDAS ZD1211 chipset

ZyDAS ZD1211 is a chipset designed to work with small power consumption. It fits the power supply from USB and is used by many USB wifi adapters. Interestingly, it supports "access point mode" which allows other adapters to connect to.

Zydas

Ralink

The new RT2501 Wireless Chipset from Ralink seems to have been released with GPL drivers. Ralink is very active in the Linux community, and provides source code for many of its client drivers to developers. Moreover esists an rt2x00 Open Source Project on Sourceforge aiming to create a stable and feature rich Linux driver for wireless 802.11b and 802.11g cards that are based on the Ralink rt2400 and rt2500 chipsets.
This chipset has many interesting features as: Bluetooth Co-existence, Low Power with Advanced Power Management, Linux AP Driver.

Atheros

AR6k

The AR6K has a GPL host driver available today. The firmware that runs on the AR6K is quite closed, but that's the case with most, if not any of these radios. No binary modules would need to be run in the kernel. A company called Card Access Inc. sells dev boards and kits and provides commercial support for the AR6K. Modules with the AR6K are available from Card Access Inc.

Three chipsets that may work, STLC4550(single band b/g), STLC4420(dual band a/b/g) and STLC4370(single band b/g). Press release state "ST offers manufacturers a complete WLAN hardware and software solution, with source code in house"..."operating systems including" ..."Linux"
http://www.st.com/stonline/stappl/press/news/year2006/p2020.htm

Interesting to add to the other options: The STLC4420 seems to be priced at $9 a per unit on buying 100k units.

It seems that STLC4550 is a derivative of Conexant CX3110x as dmesg from Nokia Maemo devices show the following:

CSR

CSR released an innovative single-chip solution for WiFI called UniFi(tm). The new UniFi-2 Portable is a Dual RISC microcontrollers based solution really really small and powerful. The company gives support to Linux and Windows developers with a dedicated website and an SDK package. The same company has launched UniVox, a VoIP phone based on this UniFi single-chip Wi-Fi technology.
Driver is available for Linux, but not as GPL.

Public call for WiFi

We can't find a WiFi Chipset with GPL'ed drivers -- We know
this has been discussed (to death) on this list, but as we're
beginning work on the next summer hardware refresh we still can't seem
to find a vendor that meets our strict requirements: Namely, we refuse
to put anything binary in the kernel.
Marvell has some nice for larger devices (the 8388). But we need
one specifically for mobile phones (like the 8686). If somebody
can help us find the right vendor, we'll give you a free Neo1973.
If you're a vendor and want to work with us to GPL your driver, we'll
give you lots of business -- and a free phone ;-)

Regular chipsets are NOT suitable

Please notice that it is impossible for us to use any of the standard desktop WiFi chipsets, commonly found in miniPCI cards or USB WiFi adapters.

We really need a chipset (and even beyond that: Somebody manufacturing SMT modules with that chipset) that is specifically targetted for mobile phones or other mobile devices such as portable media players.

Regular WiFi chipsets just draw way too much power and are too large by an order of magnitude.

List of available WiFi modules for mobile phone usage

SyChip Products

WLAN6100EB — IEEE 802.11g/b Chip Scale Module

WLAN6061EB — IEEE 802.11b Embedded Module

According to some unofficial sources they use the Prism 3 chipset. SyChip states they support Linux.

NOTE: The Palm LifeDrive uses the SyChip 6061 chipset. several people have extracted the firmware that is being loaded from the driver into the 6061 chip. all indications are that the 6061 is actually using the firmware for the Marvell Libertas 88w8305 chipset. additionally, looking at some firmware for the 6100 series, seems to conclude that it is using the firmware for the Marvell Libertas 88w8385 chipset.

ACX 100 has reverse-engineered GPL drivers, and has done for several years. it is a wifi 802.11 chipset from TI that has been used for several years in the HTC smartphone products, including the HTC-designed iPAQs (HTC designs all of Compaq/HP's iPAQs)

I assume that you are happy to have binary-only firmware uploaded to turn chips into actual useful products.

Key Stream Corporation

ZyDAS ZD1211 chipset

ZyDAS ZD1211 is a chipset designed to work with small power consumption. It fits the power supply from USB and is used by many USB wifi adapters. Interestingly, it supports "access point mode" which allows other adapters to connect to.

Zydas

Ralink

The new RT2501 Wireless Chipset from Ralink seems to have been released with GPL drivers. Ralink is very active in the Linux community, and provides source code for many of its client drivers to developers. Moreover esists an rt2x00 Open Source Project on Sourceforge aiming to create a stable and feature rich Linux driver for wireless 802.11b and 802.11g cards that are based on the Ralink rt2400 and rt2500 chipsets.
This chipset has many interesting features as: Bluetooth Co-existence, Low Power with Advanced Power Management, Linux AP Driver.

Atheros

AR6k

The AR6K has a GPL host driver available today. The firmware that runs on the AR6K is quite closed, but that's the case with most, if not any of these radios. No binary modules would need to be run in the kernel. A company called Card Access Inc. sells dev boards and kits and provides commercial support for the AR6K. Modules with the AR6K are available from Card Access Inc.

Three chipsets that may work, STLC4550(single band b/g), STLC4420(dual band a/b/g) and STLC4370(single band b/g). Press release state "ST offers manufacturers a complete WLAN hardware and software solution, with source code in house"..."operating systems including" ..."Linux"
http://www.st.com/stonline/stappl/press/news/year2006/p2020.htm

Interesting to add to the other options: The STLC4420 seems to be priced at $9 a per unit on buying 100k units.

It seems that STLC4550 is a derivative of Conexant CX3110x as dmesg from Nokia Maemo devices show the following:

CSR

CSR released an innovative single-chip solution for WiFI called UniFi(tm). The new UniFi-2 Portable is a Dual RISC microcontrollers based solution really really small and powerful. The company gives support to Linux and Windows developers with a dedicated website and an SDK package. The same company has launched UniVox, a VoIP phone based on this UniFi single-chip Wi-Fi technology.
Driver is available for Linux, but not as GPL.